Preparing for a bushfire
Making sure you are ready for a bushfire is vital to the management of your private native forest. This advice is relevant to current PNF Plan holders and contractors undertaking activities within PNF Plan areas.
- Hazard reduction activities and fire management in forests is permitted within PNF Plans. You will need all relevant approvals from your local Rural Fire Service (RFS).
- All forest operation activities, including prescribed burning, must be in line with the PNF Codes of Practice. This includes documenting these activities within your Forest Management Plan.
- The PNF Codes of Practice allow for road and track construction and maintenance works. These roads and tracks can be helpful when managing both planned fires and bushfires.
Firebreak and fire containment lines
During a bushfire emergency you may establish fire breaks under the direction of the NSW Rural Fire Service to control a fire.
The quickest way to contain fire within a forest is often to maintain or improve existing tracks. Planning their location before construction and planning for the regular upkeep of roads and tracks is vital. It ensures fire containment and safe access for firefighting operations.
Where emergency works have occurred, there is no need to update your Forest Management Plan (FMP). You should document any other forest management activities under the PNF Codes of Practice.
Your current PNF Plan allows for the construction and maintenance of roads and tracks. It also allows the use of some allowable activities such as clearing for fence lines, which can help to contain a fire.
Remember to document any construction and maintenance works occur within your PNF approval area.
Removing living trees and vegetation
Your current PNF Plan allows for the management of vegetation under the PNF Code of Practice. Landholders with a PNF Plan can also use some allowable activities to clear native vegetation. This can include trees if removing them will reduce an imminent risk of serious personal injury or damage to property.
Such clearing should be undertaken to the minimum extent necessary.
If your proposed works under an allowable activity are beyond the minimum extent necessary, please contact Local Land Services to discuss options under the Land Management Code.
Removing 'dead' vegetation
You can remove a tree if it will remove or reduce an imminent risk of serious personal injury or damage to property. In non-emergency situations and where there is no risk to people or property, the usual land management rules apply.
If a dead tree does not pose an imminent risk and is on vulnerable regulated land (for example, on a steep slope or in a riparian zone), you may need approval to remove it. You should seek advice from your nearest Local Land Services office.
After a bushfire, you should not clear ‘dead’ trees until you are sure the trees will not naturally regenerate. This can take months depending on weather conditions. Most native vegetation is well adapted to survive fire, especially mature Eucalypt species.
Clearing groundcover
Your approved PNF Plan allows you to manage groundcover and understorey plants to encourage forest growth. It does not permit the permanent removal of groundcover or understorey plants.
Where native groundcover has been burnt, landholders must give it an opportunity to regrow. Groundcover provides surface stability to encourage regeneration and prevent soil erosion following fire.
If your intent is to permanently remove groundcover or understorey plants, you may need to consider cancelling your PNF approval. You must then seek consent under the usual land management rules. Contact your nearest Local Land Services office for advice on your specific circumstances.
Clearing non-burnt vegetation
Following a bushfire, you may need to clear non-burnt vegetation to access areas impacted by the fire.
The road and track provisions in the PNF Codes of Practice allow you to clear a track on your property to the minimum extent necessary without approval under the allowable activities. Maximum track widths of 15 metres in the Coastal Zone, 30 metres in the Central Zone and 40 metres in the Western Zone apply.
Some further restrictions apply on small landholdings (under 10 hectares) and where your land has steep slopes or riparian zones. Learn more about zones and allowable activities.
Private Native Forestry Codes after a bushfire
There are parts of the Private Native Forestry Codes that you should treat with extra care after a bushfire.
Following a fire, you should consider your ability to retain the required basal area during a harvesting operation. This is because it may be difficult to tell which trees will survive.
A key outcome of harvesting is to achieve successful regeneration of the forest. You may need to pay extra attention to the retained trees. Ensure that there are enough seed-bearing trees to enable successful regeneration.
Within the Northern and Southern NSW PNF Codes, dead trees that meet the definition of a dead standing tree may count as habitat trees. No more than two dead standing trees can contribute to the number of hollow bearing trees retained per two hectares.
The number of hollow bearing trees may have may change following a fire. This means that you may have to retain extra recruitment trees. This will help to supplement the number of hollow bearing trees under the PNF Codes.
Contact Local Land Services NSW
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